00:00As women, hair is definitely a huge part of our attraction in culture.
00:07It's a very, very big part of how we present ourselves.
00:10It can mean so many different things.
00:12With curly hair, it can have different connotations to straight hair.
00:14Just like the clothes we wear, I think it's a way to express ourselves.
00:18It's a matter of how you want to be seen from the inside out,
00:22and I think the buzz cut would be how I feel like I am presenting at the moment.
00:28Hi, I'm Ebony, and today I'm going to get a blonde buzz cut.
00:34I've been thinking about getting my head shaved for probably almost a decade,
00:40and it's definitely been one of those things that I thought one day I'm going to do,
00:45but I've never really felt super comfortable.
00:47I've been on a very long hair journey to get to this point.
00:51I am mixed race, so I'm half Filipino and half Jamaican,
00:56and with that I feel like a lot of mixed black women have a similar experience with their hair.
01:02I mean black women in general, it's a very, very emotional tie that you have with your hair.
01:09When I was growing up, probably from 12 years old until about 24, I straightened my hair.
01:15So I had pin straight hair, always straightening, literally every morning.
01:20My mom even once went over it with like a proper iron.
01:24Anytime it would get curly at the top, I'd be like,
01:26I've got to go home, I've got to get this straight.
01:28I grew up with a lot of East Asian people and a lot of white people,
01:32and I feel like for me that was my way of kind of fitting in.
01:36So when I finally decided to cut the straighteners cold turkey, I did that in 2019.
01:43Right before the pandemic, I actually chopped off all the damage.
01:47So it was kind of growing out, it was a bit like scraggly.
01:49And I remember the moment I looked in the mirror and I had my long black curly hair,
01:55and I was like, this is what I'm meant to look like.
01:57And I think that was a really transformative moment for me.
02:00Then I went blonde because I was like, you know what,
02:03now that I feel comfortable with my hair, let's experiment, let's do something different.
02:06I do love my hair right now.
02:08I think the amount of time it takes me to do my hair every morning.
02:12I wish I could just wake up, like a man, wake up,
02:16not have to worry about my hair and just go about my day.
02:24Hi, I'm Alisha Dobson.
02:26I've worked with Bleach London since the beginning,
02:28and I'm part owner of Bleach Brixton.
02:31I'm mainly a colourist.
02:34So colour being a speciality, curly hair, wigs, extensions,
02:39and also a bit of freelance music and touring.
02:43How are you feeling?
02:45Nervous!
02:47So it's a really huge transformation for anybody to shave off their hair.
02:53I think you can hold a lot of your identity in your hair,
02:56so it will be really big, but I think she's going to look amazing.
03:00It's taken me a very long time to actually get to the decision of doing it.
03:04Even as I sit in this chair, I'm a bit like, what are you getting yourself into?
03:08But I think hair grows back, life is short.
03:12You can really rock anything.
03:14Chopping it off, baby.
03:16You ready?
03:16Yes.
03:17So I'm going to start longer.
03:18Okay.
03:19And then we can, yeah, always go shorter.
03:23So today on Ebony we're doing a full transformation.
03:27Start by fully shaving the head.
03:43Now I've gotten rid of a lot of the length.
03:45I'm just going to go back in and kind of shape the hair.
03:48Keep it a little bit shorter around the back and the sides
03:51and like tapered around the edges.
03:53It then doesn't just grow out around your ears.
03:56It will still stay a little bit more tapered in and a little bit softer around the edges.
04:01And now we're getting into the proper, the buzz part of the buzz cut.
04:06So I used to watch my dad like shaving my brother's heads all the time.
04:10Really?
04:10Like they would just do it in the bathroom.
04:12Did you ever get a go?
04:13Absolutely not, no.
04:15I actually told my dad at one point that, so my dad passed away like five years ago.
04:19And I told him before, I was like, I really just want to shave it.
04:22I want to get rid of my hair.
04:23And then when I just cut it like to a bob, he was like, you're not as cool as I
04:27thought you were.
04:28And I was like, wow.
04:29Because he thought you would actually let go for it.
04:32He would have thought this was cool.
04:38Just go back over it once more and sort out your, just around the ears.
04:43And then we'll bleach it at this and then have a look at it blonde.
04:46You don't want to go too short blonde.
04:49And then it almost feel a bit too like see through.
04:51Because you want a bit of hair and a bit of texture.
05:07Oh my god, that's so weird.
05:08I feel like, ah, you've got a hair band on your wrist.
05:11How about that?
05:12It feels like when you touch boys heads.
05:14It feels even better to say.
05:16So this is a scalp protection treatment.
05:21It's almost as if you've like not washed your hair for a few days.
05:23Just a little bit of an oil protection.
05:25Hmm.
05:27All right.
05:28Next up, bleach.
05:32Drama.
05:40Technique wise, it's kind of like going in in every single different direction.
05:45Making sure that you really get into the hair.
05:48If you're just kind of painting it on flat, it's just not going to kind of saturate through.
05:57All right, that is you.
05:59Now we wait.
06:00We're going to put on this beautiful cap.
06:03We'll leave it to develop under a cap just for added heat and to retain that moisture.
06:10Every now and then we'll do a scrape test until we get to the level of lift that we desire.
06:17Doing nicely.
06:18Yes.
06:19Now is making sure that you've got enough products in different places.
06:23With a shave, it can sit quite compact.
06:26So you just want to make sure you're kind of lifting it.
06:29Okay.
06:29We are done.
06:31Let's go to the basin.
06:36I love it.
06:41So this is the Alex Plex.
06:45So this is part two of a treatment that's already within the bleach that I've put on.
06:50So now I'm going to just pre-tone with the silver shampoo and just massage that in and
06:56then that will help reduce some of this yellow tone that we have now.
07:06And then it will be a toning process and moving on to the desired tone.
07:11You kind of do toner a lot by eye as well as by time.
07:15With some of them you kind of like you want to leave them for that full amount of time.
07:20But others you may like take it off before it reaches its full development.
07:35So this is white toner and some faded grey.
07:39But I just want to like neutralize out some other bits.
07:48Oh my gosh.
07:52How does it feel?
07:53Oh this is so crazy.
07:55I'm literally speechless and I never am.
07:57Get your hands in it.
07:59It looks so different.
08:00But it looks amazing.
08:02You feel like yourself.
08:03I definitely feel like it's me.
08:06That's all that's left.
08:18I am really happy.
08:20I definitely feel like this is just going to be a new start for me.
08:26I knew I wanted to do this for a very long time.
08:29I thought it would suit me.
08:30And this is just, I mean it looks even better than I thought it was going to.
08:34For the blonde buzz cut it's a pretty easy maintenance.
08:39Every six to eight weeks wanting to reshave that back down and bleaching again.
08:44But it also looks great with roots.
08:48I think Alicia did an amazing job.
08:51I feel like this is how I want to be seen right now.
08:55And I feel like she's made me just feel myself from the inside out.
09:16And throughout my life it was someone carrying all his hands usually talks on.
09:19But I know one of my examples of Phillip I guess that yeah this does.
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